Pediatrics in Brevard: Vaccines are safe and effective, yet people are still skeptical
In honor of the April 22-29 National Infant Immunization week, I am going to touch upon the hot topic of vaccines.
Why does vaccine hesitancy exist?
Is it a trust issue?
Do we believe the vaccine will harm our child more than the disease?
Are we complacent because most people have never known anyone physically disabled from polio, mentally affected from measles encephalitis, or who died from Haemophilus influenza epiglottitis or streptococcal meningitis?
Do we think these diseases are eradicated when, in reality, they are not?
Do we use social media, word of mouth or emotional fear instead of scientific research and advice from experts, to guide our actions?
These are some of the questions I ask you to ponder.
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To study vaccines, we must graze upon their origin.
Dr. Edward Jenner created the first vaccine in 1796 against the smallpox virus.
One of the deadliest pathogens at the time, it is estimated to have killed more than 300 million people.
We have successfully eradicated this disease due to Dr. Jenner’s vaccine.
Why regress back to medicine in the 1600s?
Why not vaccinate against current viral and bacterial diseases?
Vaccines have been proven to be safe and effective. Most modern vaccines are made of proteins derived from the killed bacteria or virus, so patients do not contract the disease.
There are a few that are live, attenuated vaccines which immunocompromised children cannot receive.
A child may show mild symptoms such as fever, tiredness or fussiness for about 24 hours after vaccines.
This is the body's immune response working. It takes two weeks for the body to mount an immune response of memory white blood cells and antibodies which would fight the disease if encountered in the future.
Vaccine misconceptions
There are many misconceptions surrounding vaccines.
If concerned about the preservatives and additives, remember most are found in the foods we eat in much higher quantities.
They have been proven to be safe, even in infancy. Please visit the CDC’s website on “What’s in Vaccines” for further information.
Anaphylactic reactions to vaccines are very rare with rates of 0.3 to 2.9 per million vaccine doses (per National Institute of Health).
Vaccines should be given in a medical facility equipped to handle this rare response.
To put this statistic in perspective, according to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Association, in 2020 during COVID there were on average 14,386 accidents per day, or 1 crash every 6 minutes.
That is a 1 in 63 chance of getting into a car crash in the U.S. We travel in automobiles every day, yet we question vaccines safety.
The unfounded, antiquated concern about the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine causing autism has been disproven.
Per medical research website UpToDate, ‘’This concern can be traced to a 1998 study in 12 children alleging that MMR damaged the intestinal lining, allowing encephalopathic proteins to enter the bloodstream and brain, thereby leading to the development of autism. Later, 10 of the 13 authors of the study published a statement retracting its interpretation, and the Lancet fully retracted the paper in 2010. An investigative reporter found that the study was fraudulent. Three of the children did not have Autism; five had developmental concerns before MMR vaccination; behavioral symptoms developed in some children months (rather than days) after MMR vaccination; and colonoscopy results were altered. In addition, patients were recruited through an anti-MMR vaccine organization, and the study was commissioned and funded for planned litigation. The paper was retracted from the public record in 2010 and exposed as fraudulent in 2011. Despite overwhelming evidence disproving this theory, it still is highlighted in media reports and on the internet."
As a parent, you can be reassured to know that there have been hundreds of large-scale studies around the world on vaccine safety during the past few decades.
They demonstrate that childhood vaccines are safe and are not associated with any new chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, infertility, autism or developmental delay.
Measles comeback
Measles is in Florida currently.
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus that can cause devastating complications such as encephalitis.
Encephalitis is inflammation and swelling of the brain that can lead to deafness and permanent intellectual disability.
Measles outbreaks occur every year.
In 2019, there were 1,274 cases of measles in the U.S. per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In just two months, as of Feb. 29, 2024, 41 measles cases have been reported in 16 different states.
An outbreak occurred as close as Weston, Florida, this year in an elementary school where at least six children were infected with nine total children reported in Broward County.
I encourage you to ask what is happening in your closest pediatric intensive care unit?
Ask your doctors what they have seen in their training. These diseases are still occurring in healthy yet under-vaccinated infants.
Even common illnesses such as streptococcus or Haemophilus influenzae that present as colds in older children may turn into pneumonia or meningitis in small babies without a robust immune response.
Pediatrics is all about preventative care. The goal is to prevent severe illnesses and accidents before they occur.
Every decision in life can be weighed as a risk versus benefit. Our intent should be on minimizing and beating the odds using the correct parental decision-making skills.
I encourage parents to please visit reliable websites for their information like healthychildren.org (written by the American Academy of Pediatrics), CDC (Center of Disease Control and Prevention), and NIH (National Institute of Health/ National Library of Medicine).
Trust your pediatricians. Love and vaccinate your children.
Dr. Angela Sibilia is a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine working at Pediatric in Brevard's Cocoa Beach location.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Trust your doctors for vaccinations to help keep your children healthy
